Weed Abatement Policy Has Holes in It

I can’t help but respond to “Council to Consider Weeding Permit” (April 22). Apparently the Mission Viejo Co., in the interest of fire prevention, believes that there is a need to clear vegetation from 21 open-space sites in and around the city.

This policy of “weed abatement” somewhat frightens one in the sense that developer logic permeates public policy when issues like this are considered.

First, this need for weed abatement translates into stripping the land of the naturally recurring California native (plants).

Second, the heavy-handed approach in accomplishing this task leaves us with visual blight that remains for seasons. These guys aren’t constructing pads; they’re clearing weeds. Why is it that at every site where they’ve “cleared weeds” we have ribbons of sandbags, mud on the streets and newly created ravines to enjoy?

I think it would be wiser and less expensive to live with these native fire-prone weeds in our open-space zones than it would be to deal with the erosion aftermath of hillsides devoid of vegetation.

But, of course, this is the logic to which I’m referring. The City Council needs to grasp that it’s not good policy to see these hillsides of open space destroyed in the interest of preserving them.

JOHN L. LINTHURST, Trabuco Canyon